Monthly Archives: October 2015

by | October 14, 2015 · 12:00 pm

The Rivalry of the Red River Takes a Country Turn

txouIn light of the Red River Showdown this past weekend, it is only appropriate to take the rivalry of states to a whole new level—country music. Since 1900, the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma have been meeting annually to see who has the better football team. But the rivalry has extended to far beyond the field. People from both states claim their state is the best at everything. So let’s take a look at the country music that has been produced from both states and see who can claim the title “best” country music.

Arguably one of the most famous and successful country artists to come out of Oklahoma, Carrie Underwood has definitely proven herself as worthy of being bragged about. In 2008, she was inducted into the Grand Ol Opry and into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame the next year only three years after winning season 4 of American Idol. She has won seven Grammy’s, 17 Billboard Music Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards, and eight American Music Awards. Other than being heavily decorated in the awards department, Underwood has had 12 singles reach the number one spot, including her first country release “Jesus Take the Wheel.” Its safe to say Oklahoma gets a point for Carrie.

A legend in country music for decades, George Strait has produced songs and albums that will go down in history as some of the best country music ever written, especially if you are talking to a Texan. Strait was born in the small town Poteet, Texas. His first album, Strait Country, focused on the more traditional country sound instead of the pop country that was popular during the 80s. Since the beginning of his career, Strait has produced 44 number-one hits on Billboards Hot Country Songs chart, which smokes the previous record that was held by Conway Twitty at 40. Selling more than 100 million records in his career, Strait is recognized as one of the best-selling artists of all time. With the nickname “King of Country,” I think Texas has earned themselves a point for having claim on George Strait.

Another artist who identifies their roots in Oklahoma is Toby Keith. Keith’s first album, produced in 1993 went platinum; “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” was released has been one of his greatest hits. Another accomplishment and what many attribute as one Keith’s most notable releases was his song “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American.)” He was named Entertainer of the year by the Academy of Country Music in the two years following the release of his patriotic response to the 9/11 disaster. Keith is also decorated with many other awards, including ACM’s Album of the Year and Top Male Vocalist. He has had 20 singles that have reached #1 in the country charts over his career thus far, and I am sure more are coming. Point Oklahoma.

In 1933, the next country artist from Texas who has had an undeniably impressive career was born in Abbott, Texas. Willie Nelson, one of the most famous names in country music in history, has been a leader in outlaw country and a reason for the country music scene in the state of Texas. After producing over 100 singles since the start of his career, 33 of those singles have taken the number one spot in overall charts, meaning Nelson’s music is appealing to people from all over the world. A multi-time Grammy award nominee and winner, three time recipient of Single Record of the Year from the ACMA’s, American Music Award’s Country Artist of the Year multiple times, and winner of AMA’s Favorite Country Single (also multiple times,) Nelson has won substantial awards an impressive amount of times. I’m throwing another point to Texas on behalf of Willie.

Both states have more notable artists as well who have made huge impacts on country music. Here are some of the big names from each of their respective states:

OKGarth Brooks, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, and Blake Shelton.

 

txWaylon Jennings, Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, Robert Earl Keen, The Randy Rogers Band, Jack Ingram, Pat Green, and Eli Young Band.

 

 

While I am trying to remain as unbiased as possible, it seems as though the list of country artists from Texas seems to exceed the list from Oklahoma. While Oklahoma has produced some undeniably successful country stars, I think the Lone Star State has the right to claim the win on this one. And how about that Texas win this weekend?

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Filed under Blog Post 3

by | · 7:00 am

Brad Paisley’s Free Concert was Priceless

IMG_4766 (2)“FREE” is quite possibly the most important word in a college student’s vocabulary, so when Brad Paisley announced he was packing up his plethora of guitars and heading cross country on a FREE college tour, I’m pretty sure the cheers of coed country fans could be heard for miles. Naturally, I was logged on to my computer at 12:01 AM on August 26 to claim my spot among the 8,400 local Austin fans who would be crammed into the parking lot of UT’s baseball field on September 10 to watch one of country music’s biggest stars. When they opened the gates, my three friends and I booked it across the lot and somehow, unbelievably, managed to secure a spot at the front of the stage not three feet away from the mic. I knew then that it would be an amazing night!

brad concert pat

Pat Green rocking Texas Country before Brad takes the stage

Since we are in Texas it would have been sacrilegious if Brad hadn’t paid homage to our very own genre of Texas country, so it was appropriate that his opening act was none other than his old friend and Texas Country all-star Pat Green. Pat has been active on the Texas Country scene since 1995, and he hasn’t slowed down since. His song “Home” reached 5th on the country music charts when it was released this year. Pat is loved across the country, but he is especially revered at home in Texas. I mean, how could he not be with songs like “I Like Texas” and “Girls from Texas”? He certainly knows how to work the home-court advantage!

As Pat Green closed his set with “Wave on Wave”, Paisley warmed up backstage along with the Texas cheerleaders, UT’s mascot Hook’em, and his (by my count) eight guitars! At 8:40 he took the stage and his fans went wild as he opened with his hits “Crushin’ it” and “Mud on the Tires”. Donning a Texas Football t-shirt, he worked the crowd and made everyone cheer as he threw up his horns.

brad concert hookem

Brad throwing up his horns about 3 feet away from me!

Nothing could put a damper on his performance, not even the 100% chance of rain that fell as he fittingly performed “Perfect Storm” and “Water”. It seemed as though the night could not get any better…but then Brad played a familiar tune on his guitar as he was joined on stage by Hook’em, and together they led the crowd of students in the most epic performance of “The Eyes of Texas” that I have ever witnessed.

From the quirky videos playing behind him on the big screen to his PAISLEY guitars (gotta love a man who embraces real-life puns), Brad put on an unforgettable show! I’m pretty sure the crowd could be heard all the way across campus as every soul at that concert screamed the lyrics to his closing number “River Bank”. I know I certainly had too much fun shouting the line “take a…LIME AND SUCK IT”.

While having a free tour geared toward college students might seem like an odd choice for a veteran artist like Brad Paisley, it was actually a pretty smart career move. With songs like “Alcohol”, “Crushin’ It”, and “Online”, Brad’s quirky sense of humor and social commentary are the perfect tools to reel in a population of young, college-aged fans. The cherry on top is his love for college football which inspired him to launch his tour at the start of the fall semester. His new single “Country Nation” is his theme song for the tour; it names dozens of college mascots, but focuses on how even though we might wear different colors on game day we are still united through country music. With its quasi-patriotic sound, it really is the perfect anthem to bring students together, and it certainly didn’t hurt that it expanded Brad’s fan base in the process.

“We’re Mountaineers, we’re Volunteers/We’re the Tide that rolls, we’re Seminoles/We’re a heard of Longhorn steer…On two thousand country stations/Yeah we’re one big country nation that’s right”

In spite of the criticism Brad faces as he veers more toward the bro-country style, I’m not ashamed to say that I fan-girled the entire night, and my heart skipped a beat when he performed a guitar solo an arm’s length away from me. This was definitely one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended and it was a perfect start to the new school year. So thank you, Brad, for the FREE concert and for just being you. You were certainly Crushin’ It on that stage all night long!

IMG_4870 (2)

Yes, Brad Paisley was inches away from my camera lens

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Filed under Austin, Blog Post 2, Bro Country, Concert, Country Rock, Texas

by | October 12, 2015 · 11:00 pm

Our ‘Buzzfeed’ Articles All in One Place

Before we turn our attention to writing new papers, let’s take a minute to celebrate the old ones. Here is a comprehensive list of the Buzzfeed-style articles that everyone wrote. Take a look, leave some comments, share your favorites with your followers on Facebook and Twitter, etc.

chesneyCrossing Lines

nataliemainesLiving & Learning

underwoodLoving & Leaving

Garth Brooks's wings

Raising Awareness & Showing Support

paisleyLooking Forward & Back

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Filed under Buzzfeed article, Class work, Lists, Politics

by | · 12:31 pm

Country Music at ACL

After these past two weekends, I’ve heard the same question in almost every conversation, whether I was involved in the conversation or not.

“Did you see who performed at ACL this year?”

acl_music_festIf you are from Austin or anywhere close to it, you almost undoubtedly know what people are referring to when referring to “ACL”. It stands for Austin City Limits music festival and is one of the biggest events held in Austin all year. Before I started attending the University of Texas here in Austin, I never really knew much about it since I am from Fort Worth. Little did I know, how much fun it was and how big of an event it was for all music industries and artists.

This year I attended ACL for my first time and even though the price for a weekend wristband is ridiculous, it was well worth the price, even with the crowds and warm weather. I was very surprised at the variety of music genres present at the festival. What I didn’t realize was that country artists were just as popular as the headliners were this year. The big names I saw on the list were Drake, The Weeknd, and Foo Fighters and while the crowds were massive for them, the crowds were big for everyone.

Some of the country artists who performed this year were Dwight Yoakem and Sturgill Simpson. Compared to previous years this years artists aren’t as popular compared to some of the artists who have performed at ACL like George Strait, Reba McEntire, and Waylon Jennings. (Not that I was at any of these performances, since they were all before the year 2000.) I had heard of these two artists before but I didn’t know the name of their songs but still enjoyed them a lot!

80Sturgill Simpson was very entertaining and the crowd for him was just as big as many other artists at the show. As some bloggers and writers online noted, not many people were two-stepping to the music but it still turned out to be a popular show.

He showed his outlaw-ish charm and while his music doesn’t deal with topics rated for PG audiences, I did see some younger audience members in attendance. I didn’t realize that all ages came to ACL, especially for artists who didn’t exactly sing about sunshine and rainbows.

While Simpson and Yoakam’s performance might not be considered in the category of “Best Country Artist Performances at ACL History”, they were both good in my opinion. Some of the performances that would fall under that category would be:

  • Willie Nelson 1974
  • Garth Brooks 1990
  • Hank Williams Jr. 1980
  • George Strait 1982
  • Waylon Jennings 1985
  • Merle Haggard 1978

These are a few that some people have put in their top 10 under that category and watching some of the performances online, I would have to say they were very good.

My first ACL experience was great including artists such as Drake, Echosmith, Twenty One Pilots, The Weeknd, Disclosure, Dwight Yoakam, Sturgill Simpson, and many more! I highly recommend attending the event next year if you haven’t ever attended it before!

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Filed under Austin, Blog Post 2, Concert, Live Music

by | October 10, 2015 · 7:00 am

Making the Most of Everything: Country Music Lessons

For every nostalgic song produced by country music, there is one that reflects on the opposite message. Living in the moment is important for everyone, especially in a time where little distractions are so common. In order to have no regrets, you have to make the most of every minute, which is a hard task. Country music always cuts to the heart of a matter, and this topic is no different. As someone in college who is trying to make the most of these four years, these songs will always have a special place. Here are five of the greatest ‘living in the moment’ country songs:

“I Hope You Dance” – Lee Ann Womack

This country pop song came out in March 2000, and won multiple awards. Lee Ann Womack reminds me of Carrie Underwood in some ways. This song is filled with hope about the future and emphasizes not letting any time go by without making the most of it. It’s hard not to feel inspired!

“Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along, / Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone”

“Don’t Blink” – Kenny Chesney

If you’re a fan of Kenny Chesney, then you know that this song is one of his all-time greats. It veers away from his traditional carefree, relaxed beach vacation songs. (Beer in Mexico will always be a classic!) It is fitting that the 2007 album was titled Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates. He tries to figure out the secret to life, and it’s pretty simple, just live! It seems like just yesterday when I first came to UT, so I definitely relate to this song.

“Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think…So don’t blink”

“I Saw God Today” – George Strait

You wouldn’t think that a song about new baby would really be relatable to most college students, but it’s the general idea that any major life event creates some reflection and a desire to not let things go by so fast. George Strait released this song on his album Troubadour in 2008- considered one of the finest in his long career.

“His fingerprints are everywhere / I just slowed down to stop and stare / Opened my eyes and man I swear, I saw God today”

“You’re Gonna Miss This” – Trace Adkins

A dad who is watching his daughter grow up narrates this song. Each stage of her life brings struggles but also blessings, something everyone can relate to. When the times get too trying, it’s easy to wish you get over the hump and be past it, but there’s so much good you could miss with that kind of outlook. He stresses to her to enjoy every stage of life, because there’s always a part of it she’s going to miss.

“You’re gonna miss this / You’re gonna want this back / You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast”

“Live Like You Were Dying”

In my opinion, this is the ultimate song about living in the moment. I have gotten to see Tim McGraw perform this song three different times in person, and I still get goosebumps. Between the lyrics, the sound, and the way Tim McGraw sings the song, it extremely powerful. The message is clear in this 2004 hit- don’t just live life, live it to the fullest and truly appreciate every moment.

“And he said someday I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying”

No matter the situation or circumstances, or even the phase of our lives that we find ourselves in, country music remains clear on one thing. Enjoy life and don’t take time for granted- live in the moment!

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Filed under Blog Post 3, Classic Country, Country Pop, Song Analysis